Nov 1, 2008

Breakfast, the most important meal of the day, comes at the worst time. You’re rushing to get out the door, but you need to eat. Should you stop at McDonalds or just grab coffee and a donut from who knows where? How about a real meal? Nice strips of crisp bacon, some home fries, eggs, and toast. The toast and the egg seem fast enough but I know you’re thinking…. home fries maybe on the weekend.

You can have it all quickly, maybe faster than driving to and through McDonalds.

Your secret weapon… the microwave. I know that you’re thinking the only good things that come out of a microwave are popcorn and left-overs, but here... two more uses.

Home Fried PotatoesSummaryYou can quickly make these potatoes each time you want them for breakfast or you can make a batch, store individual servings, and have them as fast as you can re-heat. You could purchase frozen potatoes at $3-5 for 20 oz (4-6 servings), but you can have pounds for that price. Really! A 5lb bag of potatoes is less money. See shopping list is the first Eat for less than $5 per day post.

Ingredients:1 medium to large raw potato1 T Oil (Vegetable, Olive, Corn, or Peanut, DO NOT USE BUTTER)Seasoning to Taste

Preparation1. Wash potato by hand under cold running water2. Use a fork to poke holes to pierce the skin. These holes don’t need to be deep, but you should get them around the potato. 4-5 pokes should be good. These holes ensure that when microwaved, the potato will not explode.3. Place the potato into the microwave oven. There’s no need to cover it or even place it on a dish. It should be fine all by itself.4. Microwave the potato for 3-7 minutes. I wish that I could give you an exact time, but I don’t know how big of a potato you have or the power of your microwave. You’ll know that it’s done when you use the fork to poke the now microwaved potato and it’s no longer hard. Ideally you want the potato cooked and still slightly firm, but not mushy.5. Heat a dry skillet on medium high heat atop the stove.6. WARNING: After being microwaved that potato is HOT! Remove the potato from the microwave with an oven mitt or towel to a cutting board.• If you’re prepping this ahead of time for the week and you’re making batches, you can let the potato cool so that it’s easier to work7. Cut the potato into bite size pieces8. Add the potato pieces to the dry heated pan in one layer. Do not crowd your pan. Do not stir!9. Drizzle oil over the layer of potatoes. Do not stir!10. Reduce heat to medium and wait until the bottoms of you potato pieces start to brown. You’ll see some color around the sides of the pieces.11. Once browned on one side, give the pan a shake and a gentle stir to move the potatoes to another side.12. Add salt and pepper. You can also add chopped onions and peppers now, or just sprinkle with a little onion powderAside from the initial microwaving preparation time is about 2-3 minutes. If you want to batch this, just remember not to place more than one loose layer of potatoes in your pan per batch.

Makin’ BaconSummaryI like crisp straight bacon, like the bacon I see on TV ads or the pre-cooked bacon in supermarkets these days. Hello again to my friend the microwave. It’s easy and clean up is a breeze. Use a plate, oven safe or paper, NOT Styrofoam. Cover the plate with a paper towel. Layout your strips of bacon on the paper towel. Place another paper towel on top. You could repeat this with a second or third layer of paper towels and bacon. I’ve done up to 4 layers at once. Just remember that you‘ll always want a layer of paper towel on top an bottom. Microwave the bacon on high for approximately 1 minute/ slice. This time will vary depending of the thickness of your bacon slices, power of your microwave and the amount of bacon on the plate. 45 seconds per slice could be enough, but each time you stop the microwave to check it will lengthen the cook time. After your first attempt at this, you’ll be a pro. If you over cook it the first time, you can save slightly overdone pieces for bacon bits on a salad. Once done, use a pair of tongs or chopsticks to remove the hot bacon from the paper towel. You may notice a lot of grease on the paper towel. Let it cool before you discard it. Excess cooked bacon (DON’ T EAT ALL OF IT) can be placed in a plastic bag or wrapped in aluminum foil and enjoyed later.
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